1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an observation system for enabling simple observation of a sample from a plurality of directions, and an observation process of a sample.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, effects of a gene in a biological sample on a living body have been investigated by knocking down a specific gene or introducing a foreign gene using genetic manipulation. Also effects of a chemical substance used in everyday life or a pharmaceutical product on a living body have been observed by exposing a biological sample including an embryo and an adult (individual) to a chemical substance or the like or introducing a chemical substance or the like to such a biological sample. On this account, manipulation and observation of a biological sample including an embryo and an individual have been frequently performed.
However, such biological samples are often very small and fragile, and they need careful and exact handling. Accordingly, when a biological sample is observed while limiting the motion and adjusting the direction thereof, it is generally required to manipulate the sample directly with tweezers, a needle or a micromanipulator while microscopically observing the sample. This manipulation takes skilled techniques and lacks rapidity.
In the meantime, as attempts for quickly adjusting the observation direction of the biological sample, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-059599 discloses an apparatus in which the support of the stand for magnification observation can be tilted to change the observation angle, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-346693 discloses a biological sample observation process in which the biological sample can be observed from a different angle by tilting the stage for the biological sample.
Although the observation direction of the biological sample could be changed in the observation unit of the biological sample in the above publications, it was necessary to apply an anesthetic or perform observation in a highly viscous medium for limiting the motion of an actively moving biological sample. Besides, the observation direction was limited due to the mutual interference between the stage for the biological sample and the observation unit in the publications, while the observation of the biological sample from arbitrary directions allows directly manipulating.